Detection of sulphur-conjugated pyrrolic metabolites in blood and fresh or fixed liver tissue from rats given a variety of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Rats were given single injections of hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids and killed after 30 h. Sulphur-bound pyrrolic metabolites from the alkaloids in samples of their blood or liver tissue were converted to extractable ethyl ethers of low molecular weight for detection and identification using TLC, HPLC or GC-MS. Liver samples were also preserved as an acetone-washed powder or in formalin-based fixative before being later subjected to similar analyses. S-Bound pyrrolic metabolites were identified in samples from rats given all the types of alkaloid tested, which included mono-esters (heliotrine, indicine), a diester (lasiocarpine), and macrocyclic diesters (retrorsine, senecionine). The pattern of pyrrolic metabolites from the crotanecine-based alkaloid anacrotine differed and could be distinguished from retronecine- or heliotridine-based alkaloids. Whereas the alkaloids tested ranged widely in toxicity, single doses of 0.25 x acute LD50 or more led to detectable metabolites. Liver pyrroles remained detectable in fixed or powdered samples preserved for long periods. Similar tests on rats given monocrotaline continuously in their drinking water (20 mg/l) led to detectable pyrroles in blood after 12 days (total intake approx. 27 mg/kg) and in liver after 25 days. The metabolites remained detectable in rats killed 17 days after the alkaloid exposure was discontinued. The simple procedures described are applicable to the diagnosis of pyrrolizidine alkaloid exposure in livestock, using fresh or dried blood or fresh or preserved liver samples. They bring to pyrrolizidine toxicology for the first time the capability to demonstrate chemically that livestock (or people) have been exposed to these alkaloids many days or weeks previously.